Civil War

Before you read this, you may think that I'm some sort of a geek or nerd or whatever... if that's the case, then thanks in advance. I really don't mind.

I am a sucker for pretty much that has anything to do with Marvel Comics (well, just don't go with the capitalistic-let's-place-a-pretty-boy-and-girl-so-that-people-will-watch-this movie renditions). For instance, if I'm in a mall, you can have my absolute guarantee that I'll pass by a local comic book stand, bookstore and check the latest Marvel Episodes. Not that I'm a die hard comic book collector (oops, there goes my credibility I guess). In fact, the closest thing that I had as far as being a comic book collector is concerned is when me and my brother had a few episodes of the Amazing and Spectacular Spiderman when we were around 6 to 10 years old I think. I really don't know what happened but we lost the copies and when we moved from Quezon City to Bulacan, we can't find the comic books (probably my old man burned them and thought they're just some stupid comic books). I must admit, back then, it's hard to really collect comic books due to financial factors and resources.

It all started when my cousin influenced us with the Marvel Universe. We'd spend the summer at their house and he has this wide collection of Marvel Cards (it's pretty much the same as your NBA cards) that has the character's stats (i.e: strength, agility, speed etc.), profile, and a little background. Then we watched animated films and my cousin back then started collecting comic books of his own. I got amazed with the art work and at the same time the intricate story lines. Since then, I tried reading and did a little research of some of the characters. I tried checking out DC but in all honesty, I really think some of their characters are cheesy (sorry if you're a Detective Comics fan. hehe).

Now, with these facts stated, I find it blasphemous for me to read the Civil War series 5 years after its original release year which is 2006. Prior to this, the last Marvel Comics series that I was able to read was the Onslaught Series (which is a classic by the way).

For those reading this article that doesn't have any idea about this geeky topic, you might be asking "what the hell is he talking about?" Well, why don't you open up another tab or window, go to wikipedia and search "Civil War Marvel" and that should lead you to the right article. Hehe.

Well, Civil War is a series that's written by Mark Millar and penciled by Steve McNiven and runs through a number of Marvel characters' stroryline. It basically is about an incident in Stamford, Connecticut where in the New Warriors were in the process of catching the mutant villain Nitro while taping it for their reality show. On the process of catching Nitro, he uses his mutant powers and exploded in a wide radius that caused a massive explosion. This led to the death of a number of humans (including kids), which eventually paved the way for the US Senate and Congress to pass the Superhuman Registration Act. This mandates and obliges all mutants and super-powered, masked humans to register for United States (if they are a citizen) and have them under the government. This way, they would pretty much be the same as every other people with their identities exposed and will be accountable for each action that they do. Eventually, those that opposes the law and declines to register are considered criminals. In the process this creates a faction for both the pro-registration led by Iron Man and the anti-registration led by the infamous Captain America. Each faction gathers cohorts for their respective beliefs which led to a number of encounters along the way. The pro-registration team also used super-villains (provided that they're already registered) to hunt down other unregistered mutants, including heroes. Some of the prominent super villains that worked in favor of the Civil War is Bullseye and Venom that joined the Thunderbolts.

The Superhuman Registration Act also entitles the government to assign super heroes to be assigned and be legit forces of the state. The 50 state initiative is one of the plans tied to the Superhuman Registration Act designating each state their own "Superteam". This also shows a wide variety of team ups of your favorite super heroes (i.e: near the end of the Civil War, Fantastic Four's Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic will go on a brief hiatus to work on their relationship and will be replaced by The Black Panther and Storm.)

Civil War can also be considered as a metaphor or a representation of what happened to the United States' Bush administration -- the conspiracy theory and the controversies surrounding it. The series ends in a tragic unfortunate event that may also imbue a moral message for those that walk the land of the free and the home of the brave.

It seems that the Marvel Universe is already piled up with lots of heroes and villains that they have created a number of series that involves a number of mutants dying or being tagged MIA such as the Onslaught and House of M series. Come to think of it, it also serves as a bridge for the continuity of the Marvel Universe. We don't expect Spiderman to go web-swinging when he reaches 40 right? It's a great way to build a legacy and give birth to new ideas. I also see it as a good bridge to create awareness for the new generation of comic book readers via the use of the storylines (specially those in the USA).

The next series I'm eyeing on will be Kingdom Come from Detective Comics (I know, I know. It's not bad giving it a shot.) or Amory Wars which is where the concept of the band Coheed and Cambria came from.